Gaseous Electronics and Gas Lasers

PrefaceAcknowledgements1. Introduction 1.1 Gas Discharge Species 1.1.1 Neutrals 1.1.2 Charged Particles 1.1.3 Excited Species and Photons 1.2 Interactions Between Species 1.3 Basic Characterization of Electrons 1.3.1 Debye Shielding 1.3.2 Plasma Frequency 1.4 References2. Elementary Theory of a Gas Discharge 2.1 The Langevin Equation 2.2 Mobility, Conductivity and Dielectric Constant 2.3 Energy Balance, Electron Temperature and Energy Relaxation 2.4 References3. Collisions 3.1 Cross Section, Mean Free Path and Collision Frequency 3.2 Classical Scattering by a Central Force 3.2.1 Electron-Molecule Hard-Sphere Collisions 3.2.2 Coulomb Collision Scattering 3.2.3 Differential Scattering Cross Section 3.2.4 Scattering Cross Section 3.2.5 Attractive Potentials 3.3 Inelastic Collisions 3.3.1 Ionization 3.3.2 Electronic Excitation 3.3.3 Vibrational and Rotational Excitation of Molecules 3.3.4 Recombination 3.3.5 Attachment 3.4 References4. Distribution Functions and the Boltzmann Equation 4.1 Averages and Collisional Rates 4.2 Equilibrium Distributions and Rates 4.2.1 Collisional Rates for a Maxwellian Distribution 4.2.2 Detailed Balance and Inverse Processes 4.3 The Boltzmann Equation 4.3.1 The Collision Integral 4.4 Expansion of the Boltzmann Equation for an Applied Electric Field 4.4.1 Expansion of the Collision Integral 4.5 Distribution Function for an Applied Electric Field - Elastic Collisions Only 4.5.1 Constant Collision-Frequency Case 4.5.2 Constant Mean Free-Path Case 4.6 Distribution Functions when E1ectron-Electron Co11isions are Important 4.7 Distribution Functions when Inelastic Collisions Dominate 4.7.1 The Boltzmann Equation Including Inelastic Processes 4.7.2 The Distribution Function for Atomic Gases 4.7.3 The Distribution Function for Molecular Gases 4.7.4 Rate-Process Calculations 4.8 Approximate Analytic Techniques for Determining Distribution Functions and Rates 4.8.1 Two and Three-Electron Group Models 4.8.2 The "Upflux" Approach 4.9 References5. Transport Coefficients 5.1 Electrical Conductivity 5.2 Mobility 5.3 Diffusion 5.4 The Einstein Relation and Characteristic Energy 5.5 Corrections to the Langevin Equation 5.6 References6. The Fluid Equations 6.1 The Continuity Equation 6.2 The Momentum-Conservation Equation 6.3 The Energy-Conservation Equation 6.4 References7. Electron-Density Decay Processes 7.1 Diffusion 7.1.1 Rectangular Geometry 7.1.2 Cylindrical Geometry 7.1.3 Spherical Geometry 7.1.4 Ambipo1ar Diffusion 7.1.5 Transition Diffusion 7.1.6 Diffusion in Multi-Species Discharges 7.1.7 Diffusion Cooling 7.2 Recombination 7.2.1 Radiative Recombination 7.2.2 Three-Body Recombination 7.2.3 Dissociative Recombination 7.2.4 Electron Temperature Dependence of Recombination 7.2.5 Electron Density Decay in Plasmas with Diffusion and Recombination 7.3 Attachment 7.3.1 Radiative Attachment 7.3.2 Dissociative Attachment 7.3.3 Three-Body Attachment 7.4 References8. DC Discharges - The Positive Column 8.1 Diffusion-Dominated Discharges 8.1.1 Electron Temperature in the Diffusion-Dominated Discharge 8.1.2 Longitudinal Electric Field in the Diffusion-Dominated Discharge 8.1.3 Deviations from the Simple Theory 8.2 Attachment-and Recombination-Dominated Discharges 8.3 Constriction and Instability of the Positive Column 8.4 References9. Excited Species 9.1 Radiative1y Decaying Species 9.2 Co11isionally Decaying Species 9.2.